Category «Libraries»

New Resource for CRS Reports on Agriculture and Food Issues

Today the The National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas School of Law announced the availability of a website which currently provides access to over 200 CRS reports on agriculture and food law policy related issues. The site’s content will continue to expand, and currently provides users with a subject index comprising 22 …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

ARL Publishes Law Library Statistics for 2003–04

“The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) announces the availability of the ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2003–04. This publication presents compilations and rankings of data that describe collections, expenditures, personnel, and services in 77 law libraries at ARL member institutions throughout North America.” download the data files or a PDF of the publication

Subjects: Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

Senate Patriot Act Reauthorization Vote Scheduled For Friday?

Following up on yesterday’s Bipartisan Coalition Seeks 3 Month Extension on Expiration of Patriot Act Provisions, today EPIC posted internal FBI documents obtained from a FOIA lawsuit against the DOJ, detailing government use of controversial sections of the Patriot Act scheduled for reauthorization by year’s end. EPIC’s requests for further documents are pending, and may …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Legislation, Libraries, Patriot Act, Privacy

Bipartisan Coalition Seeks 3 Month Extension on Expiration of Patriot Act Provisions

Follow-up to Deal Reached on Patriot Act Reauthorization Amid Wide Disagreement, this press release today: “Senator Patrick Leahy, (D-Vt.), the ranking Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, has forged a coalition of Republican and Democratic senators that introduced a bill Monday to extend the expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act to give Congress more …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Legislation, Libraries, Patriot Act, Privacy

Increased Scrutiny of Patriot Act Reauthorization Highlights Key Issue

LA Times: Was Focus of Patriot Act Debate a Dodge? – The ‘library provision’ took center stage, but critics say subpoena-like national security letters, widely used by the FBI, deserve greater scrutiny. previous posting on FBI use of National Security Letters Related article: Must we renew the Patriot Act? by Declan McCullagh, which points to …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Libraries, Patriot Act

Project Gutenberg Continues Effort to Put Books Online

From WSJ free features, Project Gutenberg Fears No Google is a Q&A with Project Gutenberg’s founder, Michael Hart (the inventor of ebooks). His vision and determination are reflected in this project, which has been sustained for over three decades. The site, which currently offers over 17,000 full text books, has a million downloads per week.

Subjects: Copyright, Knowledge Management, Libraries

ALA Calls for No Vote on Patriot Act Reauthorization

ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline, Volume 14, Number 121, December 8, 2005. “House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement on Thursday, December 08, 2005, to extend the USA PATRIOT Act. The agreement would extend for four years – until 2009– Sec. 215 of the PATRIOT Act’s — permitting secret warrants for books, records …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Libraries, Patriot Act

OCLC Report on Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources

From OCLC:Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005) summarizes findings of an international study on information-seeking habits and preferences. “The Perceptions report provides the findings and responses from the online survey in an effort to learn more about: Library use; Awareness and use of library electronic resources; The Internet search engine, the library and the …

Subjects: Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries, Search Engines

Authority of Vast Collaborative Online Encyclopedia Questioned

Growing pains for Wikipedia: “…founder Jimmy Walee [is]going to change the ground rules for the popular anyone-can-contribute encyclopedia…” Snared in the Web of a Wikipedia Liar How wikis are changing our view of the world AP: Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia to which anyone can contribute, is tightening submission rules after a prominent journalist complained that …

Subjects: Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries